


Before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger

by flightinflame



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Disabled Character, Honestly Charles What Are You Thinking, M/M, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Mind Manipulation, No really charles, Post-Cuba, Protective Erik, What Are You Thinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:09:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21653527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Something has been off about Charles since Russia. And now on the beach, he's lying on the sand, his spine shattered, and telling Erik to destroy the humans.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 8
Kudos: 41
Collections: Secret Mutant Madness 2019





	Before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [friendlyneighbourhoodteacakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlyneighbourhoodteacakes/pseuds/friendlyneighbourhoodteacakes) in the [secret_mutant_madness_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/secret_mutant_madness_2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> For whatever reason, Charles goes 'dark' and wants to kill all the humans/mind control everyone/other dark stuff and Erik is all like, "Oh no. This is not the Charles I want at all." Cue it being up to Erik to talk Charles down. A happy ending would be nice, but is by no means necessary!

Erik frowned at the man the other side of the plane. There was something wrong - not something he could put into words, but something about the way Charles was sitting, the way he was moving - he seemed off. He'd seemed off ever since that room, with Shaw's pet telepath. 

"Charles?"

"Not now, Erik." Charles had snapped, and Erik didn't understand. This wasn't Charles - not the Charles he knew. But once they were back at the base, he could talk to him about it. Charles had been downright rude to Moira, and to the soldiers who were escorting them, and now he was staring silently out of the window.

 _Charles?_ Erik asked with his eyes closed. _Whatever it is... talk to me._

There was no response, so Erik tried again, and flinched as Charles's telepathy lashed out, feeling like it struck him. He curled up slightly where he was sat.  
"Charles..."

Charles shook his head.  
"Something's wrong."

"Yeah," Erik muttered, but before he could continue, he saw Charles's expression, the coldness that shone in his eyes. "What is it?"

"Raven... oh god..." Charles clutched the seat. "He attacked, and he-... Darwin's dead."

***

Erik pushed past the fact that Charles seemed different. They moved into the new house, and things settled down. Charles trained, and he seemed to want to stretch his telepathy, and Erik encouraged that - anything to take his mind off what came before. Things were going well, until the beach. Until he made a mistake that would never be undone, and Charles was screaming on the ground.

"Charles..." He crouched beside him, and there was something unnatural in the expression that returned.

"Do it, Erik." Charles whispered, and he didn't smile - not the way Charles did, full of joy and hope and naive bliss. This was an entirely different expression, something cold. "Destroy them. It's the only way."

None of the others could hear, not with how Erik was bent over Charles's body.   
A few moments before, Erik would have claimed this was exactly what he wanted to hear. Now he could hear it, it was the last thing he wanted. This wasn't right, none of it was.

This wasn't Charles, it wasn't how Charles was.

He frowned, leaning in to look at him closely. Charles looked so afraid, and was saying these things, and he blinked rapidly, then slower, then faster again. 

Erik's first thought was that Charles was having a seizure or something.

Then he looked closer.

Blink. Blink. Blink.  
Blink.  
Blink.  
Blink.  
Blink. Blink. Blink. 

There was a pause, then the pattern repeated. Erik knew his morse code. Charles was begging for help.

"Stay back!" Erik shouted. "Azazel," He took command of Shaw's men. "I want you to move them all back. Come with Hank, in three minutes. If I'm not wearing my helmet, take them home." 

The red-skinned mutant obeyed, and Erik turned to Charles, who was still blinking like that.

He took off his helmet.  
 _Erik,_ Charles's mental voice sounded shaky, terrified. _I need... I need help._

Erik nodded, squeezing his hand, as Charles continued to babble about destroying humanity.  
 _What's happened._

_He's ... he's in my mind. When Emma... I dont know what she did. I saw what he had planned and it... part of it made sense, and I know... I know it shouldn't, I know his words were lies, but then when he held me... she ... she put something in, and now he's in my mind...what if... what if you have to kill me... Please, Erik. Don't let him-_

Erik nodded, reaching out towards him. He had no idea how to fix this. But he leaned in, and kissed Charles softly on the lips, and for a moment he fell silent.  
 _You can still talk mentally?_

Charles gave an aborted nod, hissing in pain.

Erik waved his hand, calling over some metal and shaping a gag which he fitted across Charles's mouth, before pressing a soft kiss to his forehead.   
"Sorry."

 _It's okay. I... I don't.._ For a second Charles's eyes closed, and then they opened again. _He was still in contact with Frost. She's being held for experimentation. She might be able to fix this._ He paused, and then his eyes widened. _And it turns out they're holding Darwin for experiments as well._

"Then we get them. But we get you treatment." Erik replaced his helmet, nodding when Azazel returned, and waving Hank over.

"Do what you can to stabilise him, we'll get him to a hospital."

"You've gagged him."

"It's a long story."

"Erik, ungag my patient." Hank pleaded, and Charles whimpered, and Erik shook his head. "We get him treatment first. While you're doing that, Azazel and I have to collect a couple of people, and then..." he patted Charles's hair. "I'll try and help you." 

"Can you at least take your helmet off? What if he tries to talk mentally?"

"If he controls me mentally he can make me ungag him. Just trust me. He's...." Erik hesitated. Every part of him wanted to keep what had happened secret, but he knew Charles needed help, and he couldn't provide it alone. He cleared his throat. "His mind was tangled with Shaw's when Shaw died. His telepath had already made a gap there. Just... give me a few hours, to rescue the telepath and we can see-"

Hank looked at him in disbelief, but didn't stop him reaching for Azazel. At least a teleporter made it easy to break into a government base.

***

Shaw's telepath was stood at the end of Charles's hospital bed, her eyes closed in concentration. Erik felt vulnerable in the silence there, and Hank was pacing, disliking the treatment to Charles's spine being delayed. 

After a few minutes she nodded and stepped back.

"It's gone."

Erik reached out with his ability, lifting off the gag, watching Charles. Charles blinked back tears and nodded.  
"Thank you," Charles whispered, reaching towards Erik's hand. "That was.. that was difficult, I wasn't sure if I'd... I could still feel you, but I could feel him in my head as well, and it all..it all sounded like it made so much sense, you know? Like... Like what he thought was the only right path."

"I know," Erik whispered, pulling off his helmet. "He... When I was a child, I... he'd say that, and I'd believe him, even without a telepath. I believed it, totally. That his way was the only possible correct course of action."

"Oh."

"You changed that Charles. You showed me goodness. And you're naive, and ridiculous but... but you're good. You give me hope. Hearing you fall for the lies I did... it scared me enough to stay."

"You're staying?"

"If you'll have me. You might not walk again."

"We need the doctors to look." Hank muttered, and Erik nodded.

"I'll want you to stay. Either way." Charles mumbled, then gasped. "Darwin-"

"Darwin is technically uninjured. I don't think Alex is going to let go any time soon, but I'll send them in after surgery." Erik explained, glancing at Shaw's telepath.  
 _Will he be alright?_

She nodded, and swept from the room.

Erik took a deep breath.  
"Ready to see the doctors?"

Charles nodded, and smiled a little nervously.


End file.
